Maharashtra Congress Sets Up Connect Centre to Boost Organisation Ahead of 2029 Elections

Looking to strengthen its organisation ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, the Maharashtra Congress plans to set up a connect centre covering all 48 parliamentary constituencies in the state. The centre will establish direct communication between booth-level workers and the state leadership, monitor grassroots activities and provide feedback on the party’s organisational performance. The centre will initially have at least 16 desks, each covering three parliamentary constituencies, or 18 Assembly segments. The aim is to set up regular, two-way communication between the party leadership and its workers at the grassroots. “The idea is to transform the Congress from a party that merely has an organisational presence into a dynamic, organisationally active and communicatively vibrant force,” Dr Sirivella Prasad, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Maharashtra, told The Indian Express . Prasad said setting up systems for the smooth functioning of the state unit would be among his priorities since his appointment as the Maharashtra Congress in-charge, particularly with an eye on the 2029 elections. The centre will go beyond collecting feedback and coordinating organisational communication. It will also monitor grassroots political activities undertaken in coordination with the state committee, including voter list verification, protests, formation of local committees and targeted campaigns. Another focus will be reviving inactive party workers through digital platforms and personal outreach. The centre will use membership records and data from the Congress’s Shakti programme, which sought to strengthen the party’s grassroots organisation by connecting workers directly with leaders. The centre will also track the functioning of mandals and blocks, with observers and AICC-appointed coordinators providing support to local units. Prasad said the centre would not function as a conventional call centre or a back office of the state committee, but as an important channel for gathering and analysing feedback from the organisation. “This will be one of the most important feedback channels for the state unit. It will be a communication channel reaching the last party worker and provide qualitative and quantitative inputs for informed decision-making,” he said. The centre will also keep records of activities undertaken by party leaders at the district and mandal levels and assess their political impact. These records could be taken into account while deciding organisational positions and appointments, Prasad said.